The present invention relates generally to medical technology and in particular aspects to wearable articles and related methods and systems for tracking whether one or more medical-related events have occurred.
As further background, children in developing countries are much more likely to survive childhood if they receive immunizations in a timely manner. If more children in developing countries are successfully immunized, in addition to the clear life saving benefits, the people and governments of those countries will incur lower costs by preventing vaccine-preventable diseases instead of treating them.
Immunization protocols vary by region depending on the diseases prevalent there. Under some current childhood immunization protocols such as those used in the Cusco region of Peru for example, between birth and age 4, babies are scheduled to receive 10 different vaccinations in the form of 20 total shots. In other regions, children may be scheduled to receive more or fewer than 10 different vaccinations. For example, in the Amazon region of Peru as compared to the Cusco region, children are currently scheduled to more vaccinations to account for certain tropical diseases. The majority of the vaccines are given in a series of two or three shots. Each shot is scheduled to be administered on a particular date following the baby's birth, and often multiple different vaccines are administered on the same day.
However, for a variety of reasons, children in developing countries are often unable to successfully complete an immunization program. Immunization problems in developing countries include parents not knowing how many vaccines their child needs, how many and which vaccines their child has received, when and/or where the next vaccination is scheduled to be given, and the exact age of their child, among other challenges.
Thus, despite the fourth UN Millennium Development Goal to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015, which includes “ensuring full coverage of immunization programs”, children in developing countries continue to experience lack of immunizations or incomplete immunizations.
For these and other reasons, there remain needs for improved and/or alternative methods and systems for tracking whether one or more medical-related events have occurred. The present invention is addressed to those needs.